Perceiving control: a double-edged sword in old age.

Full Abstract

Although control beliefs are thought to be pivotal contributors to emotional well-being in old age, questions remain about the specific and long-term emotional implications of different types of control beliefs. We examined three generalized beliefs about control (personal control over desirable outcomes, personal responsibility for undesirable outcomes, perceived others' control) and their associations with emotional well-being (positive and negative affect) using cross-sectional (N = 516) and longitudinal (N = 206) samples from the Berlin Aging Study (age range = 70-103 years). Relationships between control beliefs and emotional well-being were dependent on the type of control belief and the dimension of emotional well-being considered, the sample investigated, and on whether individual differences at a given point in time or individual differences in intraindividual changes over time were examined. Despite these complexities, findings suggest that perceived control over desirable outcomes is associated with high emotional well-being, whereas perceived others' control is an emotional risk factor in old age.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Kunzmann, Ute (U); Little, Todd (T); Smith, Jacqui (J);

Affiliation: Max Planck Institute of Human Development, Berlin, Germany. Kunzmann(-atsign-)mpib-berlin.mpg.de

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences (J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Nov; vol 57 (issue 6) : pp P484-91

Dates: Created 2002/11/11; Completed 2002/12/13; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12426430, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Aged
Aging - physiology
Consensus
Cross-Sectional Studies
Culture

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

Collective self-esteem and the onset of chronic conditions and reduced activity in a longitudinal study of aging. 2 Feb 2008
Alkaline diets favor lean tissue mass in older adults. 28 Feb 2008
Health literacy and cancer communication with older adults. 16 Apr 2008
Resilience in aging: the real experts. 28 Feb 2008
The Longitudinal Elder Initiative: helping students learn to care for older adults. 30 Mar 2008
'Dynamic' Starling mechanism: effects of ageing and physical fitness on ventricular-arterial coupling. 5 Feb 2008
Hemodynamics of increased pulse pressure in older women in the community-based Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik Study. 5 Feb 2008
Body mass index, dementia, and mortality in the elderly. 30 Jan 2008
Research into ageing and older people. 28 Feb 2008
Age-related physiological responses to emotion anticipation and exposure. 3 Mar 2008

See 100+ related articles.